Stress Corrosion Cracking Behavior of Alloy 22 in Multi-Ionic Aqueous Environments

Abstract

The US Department of Energy is characterizing a potential repository site for nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain (NV). In its current design, the nuclear waste containers consist of a double metallic layer. The external layer would be made of NO6022 or Alloy 22 (Ni-22Cr-13Mo-3W-3Fe). Since over their lifetime, the containers may be exposed to multi-ionic aqueous environments, a potential degradation mode of the outer layer could be environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) or stress corrosion cracking (SCC). In general, Alloy 22 is extremely resistant to SCC, especially in concentrated chloride solutions. Current results obtained through slow strain rate testing (SSRT) shows that Alloy 22 may suffer SCC in simulated concentrated water (SCW) at applied potentials approximately 400 mV more anodic than the corrosion potential (E{sub rr}).